37,000,000 hits on you tube. Only about 1,000,000 likes. About 32,000 dislikes. (This is as of March 8, 2012.) Apparently not a whole lot of people went through the whole 29 minute video.
Many comments are found on You Tube and Facebook that this is a scam initiated by Invisible Children. Let's do some rudimentary detective work!
Here's a link to the audited statements. We called the auditors, Considine and Considine, a CPA firm founded in 1946, and verified that they prepared the statements, and have been the auditors for five years. (Real CPAs such as these would not be associated with a scam.)
Invisible Children raised $14mm in the 2010-2011 year. They spent $9mm. Approximately $7mm went to programs (78% ... pretty darn good.) The two founders and the CEO were paid roughly $90,000 each in salaries for their work (IMO a fair number for the amount of effort necessary to run an organization of this size). This data is found in this link to their tax return.
I suggest that if you appreciate the cause ... it's a fair place to send a donation!
Thursday, March 8, 2012
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thank you....have shared!
ReplyDelete"Went to programs"?? You mean was spent making lavish films about a bogeyman while sustaining a huge staff of film makers and "entertainers"?
ReplyDeleteWhat about 501c-3s lobbying for specific political causes? Is that legal?
You need to read more about the background of this sleazy hustle:
http://stopthescam.tumblr.com/
I don't think you've done your homework on this one. This is a relatively small charity, taking in about $10 million per year, depending on the year.
ReplyDelete$400,000 per year to rent office space? Seriously? This is a SMALL charity. Then the auditor puts a footnote saying that IC rents private residences on a month-to-month basis. Really???!?
Incomplete asset list shows $750,000 worth of computer equipment. I'll tell you outright this is not necessary for their web-site. You can rent web-server space (even for high capacity sites that get thousands or millions of hits per day) for dirt cheap these days. And no, there web-site is NOT privately hosted. Just check. So they need $750,000 worth of computer equipment for what? Accounting? No way!!! If I were to pursue this item, I'd start with questioning who is selling them the equipment, and at what price. Who profits? And what is their explanation for all that computing power for a small charity?
"Transportation Equipment". Errr. Did you mean "vehicles"? Why the obfuscation? And why doesn't the asset list itemize this, as would be normal. Listed at $200,000. Are these a pile of used cars, or are they Porsche's? More questions.
There is a vague line listed as "production expense" at $850,000. There is also a production company listed on another part of Form 990 that has no assets and no income. How? How does a production company have no assets and no income? Is the money paid to the "production company", who then pays . . . whom? The founders of IC? Is this a way to hide true salaries? It sounds very suspicious.
Then there is "travel expense" listed at over $1 MILLION dollars. Again, this is a relatively small charity. Are they constantly ferrying people back and forth from U.S. to Uganda EVERY DAY? And if so, why so much travel? Sounds like this charity could be operated with much greater efficiency.
ReplyDeleteOr are they travelling first class? Or are they chartering private jets? These are legitimate questions. But their financial statements are ridiculously vague.
Then their annual report lists some of their (I presume IC believes) "major" accomplishments for the past year. These include:
-Drilled 5 wells. $2000?
-Refurbished some class rooms. (Paint. $100?)
-Built some classrooms. ($30,000?)
-Lowered student teach ratios for a few students. ($5,000?)
None of this is adding up to the millions of dollars they say they send to Uganda. Again, these are legitimate questions. Where is this money going? Where?
Invisible Children isn't a member of ECFA (Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability). I wonder why not.
ReplyDeleteThere are way too many things that look fishy with Invisible Children, not being part of ECFA and the spending included. It really makes me wonder what's really going on behind the scenes here.
ReplyDeleteMost likely, this is an account of financial scams. These "ghost children appear non-existent. A financial audit and personnel questioning will reveal much details.
ReplyDelete